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DOE Study Finds DC Voucher Program Doesn’t Help Students

A study released today by the Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences found “no statistically significant difference” in test scores between students who received school vouchers and their public school peers. The study lays to rest claims by voucher supporters that publicly funded school vouchers would improve academic achievement.

PFAW Foundation released a report in 2005 analyzing the shortcomings of the DC voucher program.

People For the American Way director of Public Policy Tanya Clay House issued the following statement:

“We’ve seen this time and again: vouchers don’t help students learn. It’s sad that Congress chose to play politics with these children instead of taking real action to help them improve academically.

“This study is another reminder of what we’ve always known: public schools deserve our support. The money that was wasted in this scheme should have gone to proven reforms like smaller class sizes, improved teacher training, and stronger school-community partnerships.

“Every child deserves an excellent education, not an ideological privatization scheme dressed up as reform. If this battle were really about education, voucher pushers would pack up and go home. But we have no expectation that a little thing like ‘facts’ will stand in the way of their anti-public school crusade.”